Welcome Property Owners!

Full Service Property Management

We’re not just ‘rent collectors’. Our Team handles the entire process. You give us a clean home, we take care of the rest, and you collect ‘mailbox money’. Contact us today to learn how we can help you accomplish your investment goals!

Real Estate Sales Division

When the time is right, our real estate sales division will help you cash out or find your next investment. Our team of professional Realtors routinely manages 1031 exchanges to ensure your tax liability remains low. Looking to purchase more rental properties? We’ve got you covered there too!

What our Clients are saying!

Easy to work with and very responsive to issues on the property. Fantastic management!

Travis B.

12/20/2019

We had an excellent experience in locating our rental through this company. They have responded to every query and issue that has arisen instantly. We deeply appreciate their consideration and timeliness.

Jill

12/20/2019

I had lived in the same house for 50 years of my life when I decided to make a change and put my house up for rent. Not knowing the best way to go about it and not wanting the pressure of managing all involved in that, my son found...read moreI had lived in the same house for 50 years of my life when I decided to make a change and put my house up for rent. Not knowing the best way to go about it and not wanting the pressure of managing all involved in that, my son found Smart Pad Property Management. He owns rental property and researched for a dependable and reasonably priced service. After 3 months of working with them, I can say they do an awesome job! I had a completely hassle-free transition from owner to landlord. They found the perfect family who show respect for the property as well as pay on time!read less

Carolyn K.

7/28/2018

Our experience with Smart Pad has been awesome so far! Kris made our move in smooth with no hiccups. She has followed through with everything she promised at the lease signing. Our experience has been great and we look forward to our stay at their property!

Coley M.

12/27/2019

Smart Pad Property Management has been so amazing to me and my family over the past year. They are extremely professional yet make me feel like family. Kris is extremely reliable and very efficient at her job. I would highly recommend this team to manage your property.

Janee V.

6/20/2018

Wife and I had a very amazing experience with our rental needs. Thank you Kris for making the transition very enjoyable.

Schedule your free rental analysis today!

How do we get started?

It’s simple! Give us a ring, we’ll stop by to evaluate your property, get a Management Agreement signed, and the rest is history!

How do you select the tenants?

We put the potential tenants through a rigorous evaluation process. It can be boiled down to 4 major components. 1) What is their total monthly income? We want it to be 3 x the monthly rental rate. 2) What is their rental history? Have they ever been evicted? What do their previous property managers say about them? 3) Background & Credit Screening. We run them through national databases to ensure they do not have criminal records, or show up on sex offender or terrorist watch lists. Additionally, we’ll evaluate their credit history for red flags. 4) Good ol’ common sense. We want to make sure that the tenant placed in your property takes care of it as if it was their own. We meet with them in person to get a feel for who they are and how they live their lives.

More thoroughly;

Each screening report includes an easy-to-read summary and details about applicant background, including:

FICO credit score, credit history and public records from Experian, the leading national credit bureau.

How do you handle evictions?

If the tenant becomes past due on their rent, we’ll post a “14 Day Notice to Pay or Vacate” legal notice on the front door, as well as mail all tenants a copy, and email all tenants a copy. From there, if needed, we’ll coordinate to hire a 3rd party Eviction Company (our Attorney) to facilitate the legal process of having them evicted.

Day 1: Rent is due

Day 2 – 4: Grace Period for paying without a late fee

Day 5: Late Fee assessed, contact is made with Tenant to see what their plan is to pay

Day 6: 14 Day Notice to Pay or Vacate posted on the front door, emailed, mailed, and copy sent via certified mail.

Day 7 – 20: Response days allowed by law from the Tenant

Day 21: Owner is contacted to discuss the Tenant and further evaluate Eviction needs.

*Most of the time, an eviction costs approximately $2,000 if taken the distance ($500 due over 4 stages) and this cost is initially incurred by the property owner. We can pass this cost along to the tenant, and attempt to collect via our accounts receivable process, our collections process, or we can refer you to legal counsel and you can try to collect via small claims court or other methods.

*In Washington State, you are required to store the tenants possessions for 45 days if they leave them behind in the home, this is also done at the owners expense.

*For tenants who are chronically late, we will post the 14 day notice to vacate on Day 2 to start the clock earlier.

When do we pay you?

The Tenant Placement Fee and First Months Monthly Management Fee are taken out of the first months collected rent. Nothing is due prior to tenant placement and move in. After that, our fee is taken out of the collected rent.

Upon Tenant move in you’ll pay your tenant placement fee (say 45%) as well as the first month management fee (say 9%). We will also fund your ‘Maintenance Fund’ (say $300) from the first months rent.

When do we get our money?

Rent is due on the 1st, and is late on the 5th. We must also wait 3 business days after they make the payment to ensure it clears. Understanding that will help you understand our payment process.

We run our first batch of Owner Payments on the 9th of the month (or next business day) and weekly on Wednesdays thereafter.

In other words, you can expect your net rent to hit your account around the 10th of the month if everything goes smoothly. If cash flow is a concern for you, you should set up your mortgage payment to pull closer to the 15th of the month (most banks will let you do this!)

How do we set the monthly rent rate?

Setting the monthly rental rate is critically important to ensuring you have a successful investment. After we conduct a thorough interior and exterior inspection of your property, we’ll diligently research market trends and comparable properties to best position your property for the market. It’s important to hit the ‘sweet spot’, we don’t want to rental rate so low that you’re limiting your ROI or attracting the wrong tenants, but at the same time if you ask for too much, you’ll have long vacancy periods that severely detract from profits. Don’t worry, we’ll do all the necessary research for you. Obviously covering your debt service and management fees is also a factor.

How long will it take to find a tenant?

Finding the right Tenant is crucial to the overall process. The time it takes to identify, screen, and sign the right tenant will depend on several factors. Time of year, amenities, property condition, price relative to the market, restrictions on pets, and other factors will impact how long it takes to accomplish this. Our proved, aggressive, and comprehensive marketing strategy ensures that we will find the right tenant is the least amount of feasible time. Long story short – it’s hard to say.

What is your pet policy?

We can accommodate any Pet Policy that a Property Owner wants. In our opinion, in our market it makes more sense to allow for pets on a case by case basis then it does to have a no pet policy. Restrictions may be placed on the breed/size of the animals. Additionally, all pets must be legally registered with the city, spayed/neutered, at least 1 years old, and have never bitten anyone. We prefer to handle pets by charging $25+ per pet per month in ‘pet rent’, vs having a ‘pet deposit’.

We require all household pets and service or companion animals to be properly screened. This is done through a 3rd party pet screening company at https://www.petscreening.com/referral/XyiCabyRIcLq . The application fee is $20 for your first pet, $15 for all additional pets, and $0 for assistance animal applications.

List of Restricted Dog Breeds: Based on industry standards for Homeowners Insurance and Landlord Insurance, our policy is to restrict the following breeds, even if mixed. Further, we reserve the right to not permit any particular animal because of age, size, weight, breed, history, licensing etc.

Pitbull

Staffordshire

Mastiff

Great Dane

Dogue de Bordeaux

Fila Brasileiro

Doberman Pinscher

Rottweiler

German Shepherd

American Staffordshire Terrier

Presa Canario

Boxer

Wolf Hybrid

Husky

Akita

Alaskan Malamute

Dalmatian

Tosa

Chow Chow

SERVICE & COMPANION ANIMALS: Keeping a service animal at the home will require a signed note from a medical professional or other qualified third party, on letter head, requesting a reasonable accommodation. Medical Note will be verified by our Leasing Department. Online certificates will not be accepted. We cannot enforce a ‘no pet policy’ with Service Animals, as that is discriminatory. For more info check out http://apps.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=162-38-100

What funds are due from the tenant upfront?

We have 2 preferred move in funds policies.

OPTION 1: First months rent, and a security deposit equal to 1 months rent, of which a portion is non refundable for professional cleaning upon move out. For homes over 2,400 sqft $550 is non refundable, under 2,400 sqft $450 is non refundable.

OPTION 2: First months rent, last months rent, and a security deposit upon move in. For homes under 2,400 sqft, the preferred deposit is $1200 with $450 of that being non refundable for professional home and carpet cleaning on move out. For homes 2,400 sqft and above the preferred deposit is $1400 with $550 being non refundable. We can accommodate other policies to fit your needs as well.

*If first months rent is prorated and less than 1/2 the month, the next full months rent is also due upon move in

What about maintenance issues?

Great question. We will hold a $300 maintenance fund (held in trust account) for you that is taken out of your first months collected rent. In case of emergency, ie the heat goes out in the middle of December and we can’t get a hold of you, we are able to get our handyman or appropriate contractor to the property to start the repairs. The remaining balance of funds due will be taken out of the next months collected rent. For less immediate issues, we will discuss with you what kind of repairs are being called for and make suggestions. Rest assured, we have all the right contractors and resources to take care of your property to the fullest.

Each property is unique, but the following maintenance should be done a minimum of every 2 years. Pressure wash the house, driveway, gutters. Clean out gutters. Apply moss treatment to the roof. Service the HVAC systems.

What's your smoking policy?

No Smoking Indoors. Period. Of any kind.

How does the Liability Insurance work?

We require our tenants to have a $100,000 Liability Policy to protect your property. This is not Renters Insurance, which protects their belongings. Tenants can purchase the policy on their own, or we charge them as part of our ‘Resident Benefit Package’. The policy covers accidental tenant caused damages up to $100,000 without the Property Owner being required to file their own claim and pay a deductible. Coverage includes damages resulting from; Fire, smoke, explosion, falling objects, riot or civil commotion, water damage, backup or overflow of sewer, drain or sump.

For more information, here is a program overview, owner information sheet, and a copy of our policy with Great American.

What about collections?

There are a number of scenarios where it may make sense to hand off the debt collection to a professional debt collection company. If a Tenant skips town, has unpaid rent when they move out, damages exceed the deposit, etc. We will bill them for 3 consecutive months and make every effort to collect the debt. In our experience, if after 3 months they have not paid or made arrangements to pay, it is best to hand off the file.

We use Hunter Warfield for debt collection after 90 days. There are no upfront costs or setup fees to enable the Tenant Debt Collections service or turn over accounts to collections. If no debt is collected, you don’t owe anything. Hunter Warfield works for 40% contingency of any funds recovered. The contingency fee increases to 50% plus court costs should Hunter Warfield recommend, and you agree, to legal proceedings to collect the debt.

What about Utilities?

We will coordinate to have all of the utilities transferred into the tenants name upon move in. Some utility companies will require signed forms or other authorization from the owner, so expect some involvement here. We also recommend that you call all utility companies after 2 weeks to ensure all utilities have been transferred.

Our in house tenant database. Over the years we’ve had thousands of people inquire about properties for rent. So, when we get a new property, we reach out to the tenants who are still actively looking for something similar to see if its a good fit!

When applicable, we’ll post a ‘for rent’ sign at your property that will capture prospective renters contact information. (we decide to not put signs up on some properties if we are worried about vandalism)

Importantly, we do not regularly advertise on Craigslist, that’s a conversation for another day, but essentially there are way too many scammers on there and the quality of tenants is very low.